Dead Empress Backwater agitated and upset [s]

Forward dated to the morning of April 22nd, Viorel has contracted salmonella from Vayko,
Scattered clouds, 51F/11C

What fresh hell was this!? Viorel knew that his cousin and co-leader had fallen ill, but thought that it had been related to that stupid turtle bite. Turns out it was contagious. It had started with some stomach cramps, subtle at first and the man thought he had just eaten too quickly, but they got worse rapidly. Soon it felt like an elk was ramming a horn into his organs, twisting and turning as it went, it was enough torture it brought embarrasing moans form his maw. Then he had started to feel hot all over, and then cold, and then hot again, until he was almost delirious with pain and fever.

If only it had stayed that way. Viorel had been praying for sleep when the explosions came. Hobbling away from the rest of the pack frantically, he made it as far as he could before fluids erupted from both ends. It seemed he had more inside of him than he ever thought possible, and it seemed like an hour passed before the heaves left him shivering, and dizzy, but empty. Groaning in misery he had attempted to cover this mess in dirt and dust before limping away from it all. This process continued on and off throughout the night before sweet sweet sleep finally set in and gave him some relief.

Now it was the next morning, and his head swam groggily. Panting in an attempt to cool himself down Viorel had dragged himself under a bush close to the creek near the west border. He had been trying to drink water, but it seemed futile as his stomach refused to keep anything inside of it. This was the most miserable he had ever been, if he was going to die would it just hurry up instead of taunting him?

It wasn't an infection, like she'd hoped. Vayko's symptoms had only gotten worse, and now that it had spread to Viorel, she was sure. While Vanadis was hesitant to seek out her boyfriend for fear of contracting it too, he hadn't come calling on her yet, which probably meant that he couldn't, and she was worried. His trail led her west, out towards the borders, but thankfully he hadn't made it any further than that. A sick wolf was an easy meal for a large predator, regardless of whether or not canines were a part of their usual diet.

When she finally came upon him, panting and looking half-dead beneath a bush, panic set in. Her peachy gaze raked over his frame, picking apart his visible symptoms, and making sure that she had not missed anything. "Vi?"

Viorel had not really been thinking much about what could get him if he got too close to the borders or even crossed them. Instead he had only been focused on getting as far away from the other members of the pack as possible. There were two main reasons behind this decision: one, it was clearly contagious and he didn’t want to infect anyone else, two, just straight up vanity. He didn’t want anyone to see him in these moments of vulnerability, both as just a wolf and also as a leader, it didn’t exactly inspire confidence and he had done enough to shake their foundation already.

Of course these had been his thoughts before he had sunk down so deep into the sickness. Now there were hardly any coherent thoughts at all besides begging with the sun to just stop torturing him this way. It wasn’t really the suns fault he knew, it was Vayko’s, oh and that stupid fucking turtle. How could one turtle bite cause so much destruction?

A soft voice pulled him out of this wallowing, and a panic overwhelmed him. He was torn, he didn’t want Vanadis to see him like this, but he also knew that she might be able to help. That, and he was a bit of a baby and wanted to be comforted. But, he couldn’t let her know that, that he needed comforting when he was sick like a little pup.

Doing his best to subtly - this was unsuccessful - shimmy further into the brush to conceal himself and his current state he cleared his throat. Attempting a voice that sounded normal he called out, ”I’m fine Archer, it’s all good.” But, it didn’t sound normal. The tone sounded strained and cracky, the voice of someone who had spent the night retching and had given into dehydration.

His voice did little to soothe her worries, torn and rough around the edges as it was. She knew he would be okay, and yet her stomach couldn't keep from tying itself in knots as she watched the strained rise and fall of his sides. A whine threatened to escape her lips, but she held it in, if only just, because she was afraid her anxiety would transfer to him.

She offered a single, slow nod in response, obviously not convinced by his lie. "Right." At the very least, she admired his stoicism, or his attempt at it. "So you definitely don't need my help, then?" Not that there was much she could do for him. Yarrow would lessen his symptoms, but barring that, he would have to bring himself to the water to replace whatever fluids he'd undeniably lost. She could allow him to lean on her for support, but she certainly couldn't carry him there, or drag him like a carcass.

Without waiting for an answer, the woman turned, throwing a quick, "I'll be back." over her shoulder, before setting off in search of yarrow. All of the time she had spent scouting plant locations was finally paying off, as she made her way upstream to find a few buds starting to open. They weren't exactly.. ready to be picked, but this early into spring, it was the best she could do.  Gathering up a few of the better looking flowers, Vana made her way back to Viorel, placing the pale petals in front of his nose. "Eat."

Against her better judgement, the mother-to-be pressed her nose to her boyfriend's spine, feeling the heat pour off him in waves.

Maybe she was a really good actress, or maybe it was his sickness playing tricks on him, or maybe Viorel was just really naive, but he honestly thought he had tricked her. He had watched mournfully as she walked away from him, not even waiting for an answer if he needed her help or not. He had been trying to think of what to say, still torn on whether or not he wanted her to stay, but watching her leave answered that question pretty clearly. He didn’t want to be alone right now, and he wanted his girlfriend to be the one to take care of him.

He didn’t even have the energy to tell her how nice her butt looked when she walked away from him - but he was still with it enough that he definitely thought it.

A low whine almost made its way out of his jaws before her quip of being right back cut his wallowing short. Salt and pepper tail beat limply against the dirt in a loose wag once or twice before it lay still again. God, he really liked her so much. He had almost fallen to sleep again when suddenly a bunch of white flowers were in his face, causing his snout to wrinkle unhappily. What a strong herby smell they brought with them. Viorel looked at Vanadis incredulously when she instructed him to eat them!? Gross. But, he could tell from her expression that she was being serious.

Doing his best to be a good patient the Valle man tried to swallow them down smoothly, but the second the plant hit his tongue he gagged. Thankfully nothing came up with the heave - he was already empty - but it was going to be hard to get it all down. Gritting his teeth and trying again, he took a deep breath and swallowed without chewing, trying to ignore the way his belly twist and turned with it’s new addition.

Her nose was in his spine, and it reminded him that he was supposed to be her rock right now, not her taking care of him. It came out like a groan but the least he could do was make a joke, ”Mm, delicious.” Then clamped his eyes shut as another wave of stomach cramps gripped his sides.

Vanadis realized, as she watched him struggle through the yarrow, just how deeply she had fallen. This fling, or relationship, or whatever it was had quickly descended into something more.. serious? important? Either way, she was pretty quickly coming to the conclusion that whatever she felt, it was more now than it had been and from where she was standing there was no end in sight.

Empathy wasn't one of her better qualities. She could feel it, sure, but to feel it like this was meaningful. He wasn't dying, he had the strength to kick this, and every second spent with him meant an increased chance that she would catch his sickness, but her paws remained rooted to the soil below. Perhaps the pregnancy hormones were kicking in. Yeah. Must be.

His joke forced a light smile to dance across her features. "Oh good. I'll make sure to bring more next time." But then his eyes closed, and a wave of pain washed over him. "I'm sorry, Vi." At this point, comfort was all she could give him, so she did. Turning, Vana settled herself down beside him and nipped gently at the fur between his shoulders.

"You know, that orchard is looking better every day." And in her fantasy, there would be absolutely no turtles allowed.

The stomach cramps seemed to come and go in waves. For a moment he could do nothing but groan unhappily as his sides visibly tensed with cramps before relaxing once more as they subsided. The warmth of his girlfriend wrapping around him was enough of a distraction that for a moment he forgot he was sick. Here in this moment of vulnerability, with her white pelt merging into his salt and pepper, her sides swollen with his children was more than he could have ever expected.

Her words brought a weak laugh from his muzzle and she shuffled slightly so he could lean into her warmth. He was naive, he knew he had gotten this from Vayko but in this moment he didn’t have even a fleeting thought he might give it to her. Placing his head on her paws he grinned, ”You say the word Archer and I’ll whisk you away back to the orchard. I certainly wouldn’t oppose a repeat of last time.” An audible gurgle of protest from his stomach caused Viorel to snort, ”But maybe not for a couple more days.” Once he was better, he could sweep her off her paws again.

Glancing up towards her, maybe it was the illness, or maybe it was the moment, but Viorel felt an overwhelming wave of affection. It was unlike him, and he had to look away before he said something he couldn’t take back, even if he meant it.

Vana continued softly preening through his fur, stopping when the pain overtook him, and starting again once his body relaxed. It was.. disgustingly sweet, especially for her, but the circumstances called for it.

Somehow Viorel managed a laugh and settled his head across her forelimbs, which she hoped meant that the herbs were working, but the way his sickness seemed to come and go did not leave her hopeful. To his innuendo, Vanadis could only playfully roll her eyes. If he felt alright enough to think about that, then he wasn't as bad off as he seemed. "Vayko would hunt us down and rip off our ears." Though sarcasm laced her tongue, she felt that there was a hint of truth to her statement.

"But you know, when you're better there is nothing stopping us from sneaking off there every once in a while." A conspiratorial expression danced across her features, falling a little as he looked away. Another wave of sickness hitting him, perhaps?

Fade on your next post?

Her eye roll brought a grin to his face, but as the herbs began to kick in and settle his stomach the exhaustion began to set in. His eyelids dropped happily, as he murmured with some kind of false bravado, ”I could take him, he’s only got three good paws these days.” He hoped that they would never actually come to blows, Vayko was a lot faster than him, but he was broader and probably stronger. Smiling ever broader, her cracked an eyelid and looked Vana in the eye, ”Just a couple of midnight delinquents, as we were meant to be.”

Had he just said meant to be?

He was too tired to really think about the implication, or the overwhelming sense of affection, and maybe something even more than really like. Closing his eyes again, he sighed with relief as the herbs really settled his stomach. Nuzzling his head against the plush fur of her chest, he let himself breath in her comforting scent, including the morphing sweetness of her pregnancy. His breathing calmed and slowed, he drifted off into a deeper sleep than before, even if it was just for a little while.

Vanadis couldn't help but smile at Viorel's confidence. He wasn't wrong, but it would be unwise to underestimate Vayko, considering the kind of feelings their departure would fuel him with. Still, she let him have it. "I'd bet on it." Honestly, even if he'd had four good paws, she'd still put all the food in the caches on her boyfriend.

Vana's head cocked ever so slightly at his wording, but aside from a small hum of agreement, the woman chose to let it go. He was sick, and delirious, and very much out of his head, and it probably didn't mean all of the things that she wanted it to mean. There was no sense in reading into it.

She waited for his eyes to close, and his breathing to even out before she relaxed, gently resting her head across his neck. She liked this, and him, very much indeed.

(fade)

(This post was last modified: Jun 04, 2021, 07:02 AM by Vanadis.)